Tuesday, 19 March 2002: Cai's 14:15 church service in St. Adresse, a suburb outside Le Havre, France was heart-rending and beautiful.

The weather too was apropos, windy, with a heavy leaden sky and a continuous drizzle.

The view of the verdant hilltop cemetery was intimidating and melancholic to say the least.

Touching eulogies read in a beautiful baroque church by Cai's teen and preteen French in-laws alternated with the hesitant ramblings of an old, retired priest, the same cleric who, 22 years ago, married Cai and Marie-Therese. Cai's younger look-alike brother Gonzalo--a flute virtuoso living in Barcelona, played Bach, Hayden ending with Franz Schubert's Ave Maria bringing goose bumps to everyone within hearing range.

Francois Pujade, Cai's long-time friend from high school (at the French "Centre" in Mounira, Cairo) brought the ceremony to a close with a compelling homage to his "very courageous Argentinean friend."

Besides Marie-Therese's extended family and Cai's friends in France, others arrived from Montreal, Frankfurt, Brussels, London, Amsterdam, Milan and Rome. Four of us flew in from Cairo the day before. Of-course Naldo was there; an unfailing Naldo who had remained with Cai and Marie-Therese the last two weeks. He was by Cai's bedside when he passed away in a Paris hospital on March 12. Naldo was that unparalleled anchor Cai grew to rely on so much during his seven-year struggle with cancer.

At the cemetery, as we stood in front of flower arrangements surrounding the pine casket, condolence emails and letters from Cairo were read out. And as each mourner dropped a rose into the grave, Marie-Therese and I poured a glassful of sand from Egypt's desert; that same Egypt Cai considered his home.

About 30 family and friends then proceeded to the seafront villa of Marie-Therese's parents located in a scenic Norman suburb north of Le Havre. A cold buffet with wine and champagne awaited us--an opportunity to wipe tears and celebrate Cai's life. We drank considerably and the drivers of the six-car convoy had to gulp tons of coffee before we took off at 18:00 for the return journey to Paris. Tarek Sharif, Naldo or was it perhaps Francois, had booked a table for 14 at a Neuilly restaurant. Well past midnight we exchanged Cairotica and other Cai memories.

Seeing where Cai is now resting and witnessing firsthand how much he was loved and celebrated somewhat eased the pain of separation. And as Marcelo Politi says "In death as in life he brought together the most diverse people." If anyone loved humanity, it was most certainly Cai.

Marie-Therese we share your grief.

Samir Raafat